What about some GAS?

Lately I’ve been suffering from a lot of gas (gear acquisition Syndrom). And by lately I mean the last week plus the two years before. It started when I got a canon dslr and only two month later I saw myself carrying around an insane amount of prime lenses, filters, adapters, straps, spare batteries, tripods all packed in one of these oversized backpacks that even Ken Rockwell’s ass would have respectfully watched the show.

Half a year later I had sold all that already and made a fortune. Not. It’s a fairytale that you can buy and sell gear with zero loss. Maybe it is possible in the analog world but it depends on the level of desperation your seller shows off and the aspect of his age to beard ratio.

Before I strip down the whole story of my gear in/gear out history, let me break down my problem. After a sleepless night on YouTube I am usually of the opinion that I need every camera that has been reviewed. My brain works very simple. It talks to me like so: “If you buy this camera, you’ll be able to shoot these kind of photos.” My brain leaves out the fact that these kind of photos that I was looking at, have been shot in the Yosemite National park which happens to be on different  continent and my life takes basically place between changing diapers, trash diapers and buy new diapers and that I won’t leave this Perpetuum Mobile anytime soon. Sorry bro.

Recently while I was in my dedicated photo room pretending to do something important, probably just checking Twitter, I looked at all the gear lined up on the shelf collecting more dust than memories and said aloud to myself:

“Do I really need all that?”

From the very emotional collector`s point of view one could easily answer “yes” but if you let rationality decide one can break it down to the essence:

One 35mm camera (Leica M6)

One medium format camera (tba)

One digital camera (probably Leica M9)

One unlimited amount of film (BW only)

One unicorn because everybody should have one.

The decision is made and I’m in the process of selling. I’m not going to give away the cameras the I’ve inherited, I barely use them anyway , but the rest is not safe anymore. Before I’m purchasing anything I nowadays ask myself first:

“Do I really need that?“

“Will this improve anything in my life?“

This works for everything. Especially for photography.And now I’m getting a new Leica. LOL.